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Friday, 6 September 2013

The boys are back in town

They say that
one Swallow doesn't make it summer, but, for me anyway, the arrival of the
Brent Geese does make it winter.

And this week,
800 of them have been reported in Strangford Lough, Co. Down, so it’s official!
Birders in north county Dublin report that there are no geese present on the
Rogerstown or Broadmeadow/Swords estuaries just yet, but that a single
pioneering goose has been seen just inside the county border on Gormanston
beach. As more and more of these birds arrive in Ireland from their breeding
grounds in the Canadian Arctic, they will filter down along the east coast and
into Dublin Bay.

This population
of geese is remarkably well studied, and the Irish Brent Goose Research Group have
colour-ringed lots of them over the years. Ring reading, by what is now an army
of dedicated amateur ring-readers, allows information on movements, site
fidelity and survival to be collected. Even the social structure of this
population is being studied. This will help to understand how an individual’s
social standing affects its physical condition and survival.

Despite breeding in remote areas of the Arctic Canada, they are quite at home in the parks and pitches of Dublin in the winter.Matthew Silk.

Ultimately, all
this work will highlight the factors that have the greatest influence on Brent
Goose ecology and will feed in to future conservation actions for the species.
So, when these birds turn up in Dublin Bay in the coming weeks, why not get out
and see if you can see some colour-ringed ones? Any ring-reads (including the
date and location) should be sent to grahammcelwaine@btinternet.com .

There were seven Brent on Sandymount Strand last Tuesday morning (17th), including one ringed bird - ZPLY. The (excellent) Irish Brent Goose Research Group blog has just posted on the numbers current in Strangford Lough - worth a read. http://irishbrentgoose.blogspot.ie/2013/09/irish-numbers-building-to-6-8000-at.html

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